The Melbourne Women in Film Festival is a regional not-for-profit festival aimed at celebrating and supporting the work of women filmmakers and creatives – from directors, writers and producers to cinematographers, sound designers and editors. Our annual 4 day festival endeavours to promote the many talented women who work within all areas of film production, and to encourage and inspire women with creative aspirations to pursue their passions with confidence. We are best known for our retrospective screenings, Q&As with filmmakers and creative personnel, diverse short film sessions, engaging panels, public forums, networking events, and practical workshops.
Please note that we only screen films from women filmmakers working in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and the island nations of the wider Moana Oceania.
Our goal is to provide a space and opportunities for screen creatives to exhibit their work to a diverse Melbourne audience. We advocate for gender equality in the Victorian and Australian screen industries, provide opportunities for dialogue and engagement between women working in film, the Australian screen industry and audiences, provide opportunities for emerging filmmakers to exhibit their work, and of course...entertain!
MWFF 2021
We welcome short film submissions of any genre, style or theme from women working within all areas of the Australian, Aotearoa New Zealand or wider Pasifika screen industries. To be eligible, all films must have a woman in a key creative role (Producer, Director, Writer, Cinematographer, Editor, or Sound Designer/Composer) with priority given to creative teams of women.
Our theme for MWFF 2021 will be announced near the end of the year. We can reveal, however, that in addition to our general open call, we also welcome short films and web series that engage with notions of the future, digital, mobile and online technologies and platforms, and non-traditional or interactive storytelling approaches.
MWFF is committed to celebrating and promoting diversity in the screen industry. We believe that it is important to be inclusive in our programming so we open the category of “women” to any individual that identifies with this term. We are inclusive of cisgender and transgender women and we accept submissions from gender diverse, gender non-conforming, genderqueer, non-binary, and intersex individuals.
We strongly encourage submissions from First Nations women, women of colour, women with disability and Deaf communities, and LGBTIQ-identified women.
The short film programmes are eligible for the following awards decided by an industry jury:
- Best Short
- Best Next Gen Short (student category)
- Critics' Choice
There will also be an audience award for the short film programme.
Prizes will be announced soon and will be in the area of future production assistance. In the past, prizes have included post production services at Soundfirm Post Production and The Post Lounge, vouchers from Lemac Film & Digital, equipment from Blackmagic Design, WIFT Victoria memberships, and screenwriting mentorship from Script Central.